Sig. Gaspare Antonio Pietro Gatti

Luigi

Sig. Gaspare Antonino Pietro Gatti, better known as Luigi, was born in Montalto Pavese, Italy at 3 am on 3 January 1875.

He was one of eleven children born to Paolo Gatti and Maria Nascimbene. His father was a local councillor responsible for a municipal department and "country peacemaker" (Justice of the Peace or magistrate).

Gatti left Italy for England when he was still very young, the only member of his immediate family to do so and became a successful restaurant entrepreneur, reportedly earning himself a fortune that he was able to send back home to his relatives. Exactly when he arrived in England is not clear, possibly as early as 1887, but he first appears on electoral registers in Harrow in 1891; he went on to run two Ritz London restaurants, Gatti's Adelphi and Gatti's Strand.

He was married in St Luke's Church, Hammersmith, London on 15 December 1902 to an English woman, Edith Kate Cheese (b. 1876), a Chelsea native and daughter of steward William James Cheese and his wife Emily. Gatti's address at the time was given as 93 Vespar (?) Road, Hammersmith and he was described as a waiter and business proprietor. Gatti's and Edith's son Luigi Victor was born on 25 October 1904 and the small family appeared on the 1911 census living at Flat 3, 101 Great Titchfield Street, Marylebone.

Gatti was chosen by the White Star Line to manage the a la carte restaurants aboard Olympic and Titanic and he would staff them with employees from his own restaurants.

When Luigi Gatti signed on to the Titanic on 6 April 1912, he gave his home address as "Montalto", on Harborough Road, Southampton.

During the sinking there were reports that the largely continental staff of the restaurant, mainly French, Italian, Swiss, German and Belgian, were herded to their quarters by stewards and kept there. Indeed, only three from the staff survived, two of whom were the female cashiers.

Gatti died in the sinking and his body was recovered by the Minia (#313) and buried in Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Most of the belongings were returned to Gatti's wife in London but a single dollar bill, from the wallet recovered with his body, was sent back to the relatives in Italy. His estate, worth £420, was administered to his widow on 15 June 1912.

(Courtesy: Renato Gatti, Italy)

His widow Edith was never remarried and she remained living in Marylebone, London into the 1930s before going to live with her son in Northallerton, Yorkshire where she died 1963.

Gatti's son Victor was married in 1928 to Violet May Elis (b. 1901) but the couple had no children; he served during WWII and later worked as a telephonist. The couple later settled in Bedale, Yorkshire but Violet died in 1959 and Victor was remarried two years later to Marjorie Armstrong (1920-2001). He died in Northallerton, Yorkshire in 1974.